Audiobook Review: The Quiet Neighbor by J.D. Barker and Adam Roach
The Quiet Neighbor
Authors:
J.D. Barker
Adam Roach
Narrator: Morgan Hallett
Published: January 27, 2026
Audiobook: 9 hours 16 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: January 15-21, 2026
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
A heart-stopping tale of family secrets, buried trauma, and the lengths a mother will go to save her child, even when that child might not want to be saved.
Cynthia Burrows thought she’d built the perfect life—successful law career, loving husband, beautiful daughter. But when eighteen-year-old Tori vanishes without a trace, Cynthia’s carefully constructed world begins to crumble.
The school says Tori was excused by family. Security footage shows her leaving with an older man. And the boy she was supposed to date? His name sends chills down Cynthia’s spine—Alexander Beaufort.
That’s impossible. Alexander Beaufort is the serial killer who destroyed Cynthia’s childhood, murdered her best friend, and forced her into witness protection twenty years ago. He’s supposed to be locked away forever.
But someone is playing a deadly game, leaving clues that drag Cynthia back to her darkest memories. With only three days to find her daughter, she must confront the monster from her past and the shocking secrets Tori has been hiding.
In this quiet suburban neighborhood, everyone has something to conceal. And some neighbors are more dangerous than others.
Jessica’s Review:
J.D. Barker is an author I follow and when I hear he has a new book coming out, whether solely written or co-written, I will look to see what it is about. The Quiet Neighbor is co-written with Adam Roach, and the description of this one intrigued me.
This book has multiple povs and dual timelines: Cynthia’s past and the present. We also have a journal written by an ‘anonymous author’. It’s a race against time as Cynthia only has a few days to find her daughter, and while searching she is learning more about her daughter. How well or little does she know Tori?
There were twists throughout the novel, but the final ‘doozy’ I called very early on. And even though I called it early I still was in for the journey. I know this is fiction, but parts of the novel were far from realistic. Cynthia has a friend who is investigating the case and she all but let Cynthia basically take over. This happening just caused a high lack of believability as time went on. Other than that issue, I did enjoy the novel!
The narrator Morgan Hallett did a good job with her narration. She was extremely creepy when it came to narrating the journal entries.
Thank you to the publisher for granting me a copy to listen to and review!
Audiobook Review: Something I Keep Upstairs by J.D. Barker
Something I Keep Upstairs
Author: J.D. Barker
Narrator: Michael Crouch
Published: May 13, 2025
Audiobook: 15 hours 48 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: May 12-22, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
For a haunted house to be born, somebody has to die.
In the sleepy coastal town of New Castle, New Hampshire, seventeen-year-old Billy Hasler’s life is about to take a terrifying turn. When his best friend David Spivey inherits a mysterious house on a nearby island, it seems like the perfect place to spend their final summer before heading off to college. No parents. No police. No responsibilities.
As they dig into the island’s dark past, they awaken an ancient evil that has influenced generations. What begins as an innocent summer adventure quickly descends into a nightmare.
“Something I Keep Upstairs” is a haunting exploration of friendship, sacrifice, and the darkness lurking just beyond our understanding. It will keep you on edge until the final, chilling page.
Jessica’s Review:
If J.D. Barker’s name is attached to a book, I’m going to see what it’s about! This time we have a haunted house on its own island in a real location called New Castle, New Hampshire. And we have YA characters too! Be sure to read the author’s note at the end of the novel. When I saw that Michael Crouch performed the narration, I just knew I had to listen to this novel. I have adored Michael Crouch in past books I have listened to: He is a perfect narrator for YA characters. And he helped to bring Billy to life telling the listener this story.
New Castle, New Hampshire is a small town and Barker really brings the reader/ listener into this world. Billy Hasler tells us this story: He and David Spivey have been friends since they were four years old. ‘Spivey’ as everyone calls him inherits his grandmother’s house that is on its own island. All the teens are ecstatic over this. But there are rules that are meant to be followed. Some of the rules are:
-Never lock the doors
-Don’t answer the phone
-Anyone on the island at sunset must stay until sunrise
-No one under 16 can set foot on the island (Wait a minute, a teenage boy inherits an island with this rule!?!?)
-Don’t forget to feed Emerson.
These are some strange rules, especially for the teens. And who or what is Emerson???
What starts as adventure turns into a nightmare. Will these teens survive?
Barker did a great job with these characters. I felt like I go to know these characters over the course of the novel. We have witchcraft going on, ghosts, and plenty of supernatural. It is a character driven novel, so if you are looking for a novel to give you ‘jump scares’ this is not it. It does get creepy towards the end, but a lot of this is the journey that Billy, David, and friends go on.
I enjoyed it and thank the publisher for granting me a copy I could listen to and review.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
The Fifth to Die #4MK
Author: J.D. Barker
Published: July 10, 2018
416 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: July 2- 15, 2018
Jessica’s Rating: 4.5 stars
Book Description:
In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.
Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.
Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.
Jessica’s Review:
My review of The Fourth Monkey, the first in the series is here.
J.D. Barker is back with The Fifth to Die, sequel to The Fourth Monkey (4MK). This is another brilliant novel in the series. Be warned in advance: there is a cliffhanger to this one…. I need the third (and possibly final??? ) book now! I really like Detective Porter and Bishop is just frightening and now we see where he gets it from: His mother!
I would say you could read The Fifth to Die before 4MK, but I would not recommend it at all! You would see what’s going on as this novel goes into the past some, BUT you would miss so many of the details and you NEED to know 4MK’s gruesome background! You will not understand the brutality or how extreme of a sociopath Bishop is without reading 4MK.
There is quite the punch of activities that occur in a short amount of time in Fifth. We have multiple POVs and more than one bad guy. The mystery with what is going on with the girls keeps you reading wondering what will happen next. And thank you J.D. Barker for totally freaking me out by the overdose one character dies of: I am currently taking that medication!!
Bishop is fast becoming a favorite serial killer of mine and I look forward to see what Barker brings us next in this series. I just hope it isn’t too long!
The reason I rated The Fifth to Die 4.5 stars (rounded up to five for Goodreads, Amazon, etc) was that I personally wanted more of Bishop in the novel. His presence wasn’t as high in this one as I wanted. BUT we do get another frightening serial killer! J.D. Barker, how do you come up with these characters in your mind?????
Special thanks to the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and J.D. Barker for my arc copies!
The Fifth to Die is highly recommended!
Giveaway Alert!!!:
**Be sure to go to Jessica’s Reading Room on Facebook for a chance to win a SIGNED arc copy of The Fifth to Die sent to me by J.D. Barker!! It runs through Saturday morning!!!!
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